Orthopedic pins, which are normally used in medical practice to temporarily immobilize and/or suture fractured bones, cause a breach in the skin. This wound provides a path for normal skin microorganisms to invade along the pin wound tract into deeper tissues, thus threatening the therapy being utilized and the health of the patient. Moreover, the potential for antimicrobial infection along the pin tract is increased by the relative motion of the pin into and out of the wound, and by bacterial proliferation at the wound site. Moreover, tissues contacting the pin are in a state of chronic inflammation, thus impairing the normal defense mechanisms against the progressive bacterial infection.
Thus it is an object of the present invention to stabilize an orthopedic pin at the wound site.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an antimicrobial wound dressing at the pin site which can protect the wound site from the environment.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a device which can be used both to anchor a pin with respect to the wound site and serve as a wound dressing, but which is disposable and readily replaced as needed without removing the pin or without undo disruption at the wound site.
These and other objects will be apparent from the following description and from the practice of the invention.